Posted
by
kdawson
on Wednesday March 10, 2010 @02:21AM
from the proud-to-have-been-warped-by-it dept.

Mirk writes "Computer-science legend Edsger W. Dijkstra famously wrote: 'It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.' The Reinvigorated Programmer argues that the world is full of excellent programmers who cut their teeth on BASIC, and suggests it could even be because they started out with BASIC."

It's Dijkstra we're talking about. And Dijkstra does have quite a few genuinely useful and lasting achievements speaking for him (semaphores and such), while Wirth was indeed, more or less, a quiche-eater.

"Your post pretty much proves Dijkstra's point. You did not manage to lay off your old thinking habits. You do not bother to think how an object oriented compiler works and to me it sounds that you are stuck in 80's style programming."

'Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California.' - Dijkstra

So far you've proven either that you suck at programming, or that you suck at cut and paste. But that is not a program that uses a goto. You could stick with your current proof, or if you try again you may remove all doubt.

Perl as introduction to programming for kids?You will be lucky if they put you in prison for life, for child abuse.If they don't, you'll have the misfortune to spend the rest of your miserable and short life in the grim world you will have created, filled by monstrosities from worst nightmares.

If BASIC was mutilating the young minds, Perl is in the line of Cthulhu summoning with minors.